Ratua Island

We are still anchored off Ratua Resort with its $450 per night accommodations in a remote unspoiled location. We eat lunch there usually in order to give them business.
When we arrived the first thing Barry did was go to the resort and ask about the tradional archery that they advertise. No can see, broken. That's OK, we want to see broken archery. Resort person says we can't do archery because it is broken. Barry's grampa genes kick in and he says he absolutely has to see this archery because his grandson is interested in archery. So finally they send the archery guy, Claude, to take us to see the broken archery. He carefully explains that we can't use the archery because it is broken and there are no arrows. This goes on until he caves under Barry's commitment as a grandfather and he shows us the broken bow. We show great interest and encourage him. He explains that he knows how to make bows and arrows because his grandfather taught him. Barry says grandfathers are good for that. Claude describes the whole bow making process, from the cutting of mangrove, to wrapping it in leaves and soaking it, to putting it in the fire. He uses banyan air root for the string. He takes us to see the target which he also made from a cross section of a palm trunk. He said that they had a big group of French visitors at the resort using the archery and one big fat French man broke the bow. He ended up giving us a tour of the facility and part of the island. We gave him 2000 vatu and invited him and his wife, Leoni, a waitress at the resort, aboard for a visit. They were wonderful and fun and I hope we meet them again when Vince's family arrives.
The water is super clean, there are many big turtles, the snorkeling is outstanding. Barry cleaned the prop and we will both clean the bottom tomorrow. Then back to Beachfront Resort to provision, laundry and prepare for Vince, Noelle, Boden and Colby.
As I write Barry is making helmets for Boden and Colby from a coconut. He observed how to do this at the custom village. (A custom (kastom in Bislama) village is a village that keeps the old customs of the ancestor people.)

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